After our stay in Bora Bora, we took a short flight back to Papeete, Tahiti to board our new apartment. From there we sailed to near-by Moorea, another beautiful island. The first day was all work, unpacking and buying provisions for the kitchen. The second day, we played golf with a group from the ship. The weather was almost too hot, but we had fun. Debra played the best nine of her life, but we all were baked out on the hilly second nine.
Next we sailed to Huahine, and then back to Bora Bora. The highlight was an afternoon at a private island that the ship arranged, along with a great barbeque. The food on-board is fantastic, that which is provided in the four restaurants, the room service to our balcony, and dinners whipped up by Debra when we stay “home.”
About French Polynesia:
The 118 islands of French Polynesia cover an area the size of Western Europe, but if you combined them all as one, they’d be about the size of Rhode Island. Many of them are surrounded by reefs, inside which beautiful turquoise lagoons give those spectacular aerial views you’ve all seen. 45 years ago, three American hotel owners got the idea of making “overwater bungalow” villas and now most resorts on the frequently visited islands have them. Despite its beauty, these islands annually have the same number of visitors Hawaii has in 12 days! That’s probably because it’s 8 an hour flight from LA, 11 from Japan, 5 from Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. So it’s quiet and peaceful – not as touristy as you’d expect.

Raiatea

Huahine

Bora Bora mayoral campaign

Moorea

Bora Bora

Our humble home

Tonight we head out across the second half of the Pacific, with stops in the Cook Islands along the way. But we don’t get to New Zealand until 2 weeks from now! So we may be quiet for a while as satellite internet is very slow and often unreliable in the middle of nowhere.
Happy birthday Pat and Tom! Wish we could be there. Errr, no – wish you were here!

April schedule

Click for a 5 minute highlight reel of week 1: